AI does not pose threat to humans, says Microsoft research chief

Eric Horvitz, the research head of Microsoft, believes that Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems may achieve consciousness, but they are unlikely to pose a threat to humans, according to media reports. However, Prof Stephen Hawking﻿ said in a statement that the invention of such machines may "spell the end of the human race."﻿

Regarding concerns that we could “lose control of certain kinds of intelligences," Horvitz, who leads a team of some 1,000 researchers and engineers, said he “fundamentally [didn’t] think that's going to happen.”

His team’s work led to the development of the voice-controlled assistant Cortana on the Windows Phone.